Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Sun Chang's Super Cloud Spear
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Meanwhile, the spectator stands watching the spar between Ja-seong and Un-yeop had fallen into silence before anyone realized it.
Those who had been mocking Namgung Seon-woo's pathetic performance just moments ago were now dumbstruck like they'd swallowed honey, and those certain of Un-yeop's victory stood with mouths agape, unable to speak.
Ho-jeong and Chilji were no different.
“.......”
“.......”
The two stared in shock at the unfolding match before their eyes, unable to hide their astonishment.
Ho-jeong was especially stunned.
‘My god...!’
She had thought Namgung Hyeon was impressive enough before, but Ja-seong was on an entirely different level.
-Clang! Clang! Claaang!
Ja-seong pressed Un-yeop relentlessly with movements too fast to follow with the naked eye.
Un-yeop struggled desperately to block the unending barrage of sword strikes.
It was clearly a one-sided disadvantage for anyone watching.
-Sun Chang's man is being pushed back?
-Who is that young warrior? How can he...?
With most of the audience silenced in shock, the whispers from a few stood out all the more clearly.
Ho-jeong didn't share their doubts.
No, it would be more accurate to say she couldn't.
“...Ahh.”
All rational thought had ceased as she gazed endlessly at Ja-seong on the arena stage.
That was it.
The faint trace that had lingered only in his heart, without form.
The thing that had been seared into the boy's heart like a brand in his childhood.
The thing he had wandered in search of for so many long years, without any certainty.
If what Namgung Hyeon had shown was a fragment of the dream,
-Clang!
Then what Ja-seong showed now was the dream in its entirety.
Time had passed, the boy had become a young man, yet he still couldn't let go of that lingering attachment.
And at the end of that thread was not emptiness or futility, but joy and ecstasy.
“Whew...”
As Ho-jeong's lips curved upward with the pleasant pounding in her chest,
Chilji, sitting beside her, twisted her own lips in the opposite expression.
‘How can this be...!’
It was a fight he could never lose.
A hundred out of a hundred would have bet on Paecheon's victory.
That's why they hadn't even bothered picking a third fighter.
Sun Chang's Super Cloud Spear had been that strong a card.
But what was this?
Their ace, who had been confident of victory even against the Namgung family head, was now being utterly crushed by some young punk.
At first, she thought Un-yeop was pretending to be pushed back on Ho-jeong's orders.
-Kaboom!
But look at that sight.
Un-yeop flying backward amid the explosive boom.
Even Chilji, who knew next to nothing about martial arts, could see it.
Super Cloud Spear wasn't weak. That young guy was just strong.
Movements too fast to track with the eye, strikes powerful one after another—none of it was something she'd ever seen from any warrior in this world.
Chilji's instincts rang a powerful alarm.
‘That guy's dangerous.’
A intense sense of crisis she'd never felt even against the Ten Supremes, said to be the strongest in the world, swirled in her mind.
That guy, that existence—couldn't be left alone.
If ignored, he could unravel the entire ‘grand plan.’
That's what her intuition screamed.
“.......”
But on the other hand, she felt a powerful desire.
What if she could control him?
If she could bring such a powerful force under her command, the grand plan might progress even faster.
‘If so, even ‘His’ descent could come sooner...’
Kill him or dominate him.
Intense conflict surfaced on Chilji's face.
Regardless of her inner turmoil, the spar between Ja-seong and Un-yeop reached its climax.
*
The sword slices through the air.
The spear crosses to block it.
-Clang!
The blade and spear tip clash, ringing out a sharp metallic sound.
“Haaap!”
The two weapons rebound.
Undeterred, they charge at each other relentlessly, biting and tearing.
-Clang! Claaang!
The continuous clashes of sword and spear.
At each collision, a thrill raced up his spine, lifting the corners of his mouth naturally.
This was it. This was what he'd been waiting for.
A true warrior-against-warrior battle, where their cultivated martial arts clashed against each other.
Positions and stances be damned, pouring everything into it solely for victory.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't a life-or-death duel, so he wasn't going all out, but even so, it filled something that had gone unsatisfied until now.
“Haaap!”
Super Cloud Spear thrust in swiftly.
Not quite like several spears flying at once, but close enough in speed.
-Clang! Kang! Claaang!
After batting away the three consecutive strikes, he repaid it by thrusting his sword at the upper body.
Sword shadows numbering over six, reaching eight, struck the upper body from all directions at once.
-Boom!
He'd stopped channeling sword energy, so his sword couldn't pierce the upper body and merely shoved Super Cloud Spear backward.
But Super Cloud Spear himself seemed dissatisfied with that.
“Why didn't you shatter my guard this time? Are you going easy on me?”
Going easy on you?
Was he asking sincerely?
“What kind of nonsense is that? If I'd gone all out from the start, your head would've rolled long ago.”
It was a spar where killing the opponent wasn't allowed in the first place.
Using sword energy early on had just been a warning to get serious and go all out.
“...Kuh.”
Super Cloud Spear's face twisted pathetically at his answer.
But he quickly composed himself and resumed his attack.
Hmm, as expected, different from the guy who'd lost it after taking one hit from Namgung Hyeon.
Certain that Tak Cheol-woo's rampage had been from the humiliation of that single blow, Ja-seong inwardly admired Un-yeop's maintained composure.
Channeling that admiration, he swung his sword down at the incoming spear.
The initial stance of Heavenly Might Oppression, to sever the opponent's attack.
But this time, things didn't go so smoothly.
“I've already seen that stance!”
Un-yeop suddenly twisted his thrusting spear to evade Ja-seong's sword, then swung it wide.
The spear tip now aimed straight for his neck.
A heavy slash loaded with the full weight of his body, leaving little room for follow-up response.
An excellent counter exploiting that vulnerability.
He'd already figured out a counter after seeing it just a few times?
This was the difference in experience?
Feeling anew that his opponent was a man who'd roamed the jianghu for decades, he stomped his true stance.
-Boom!
A loud thud echoed from his foot.
Thinking he would charge again with Spear Palace One Flash, Super Cloud Spear tensed his entire body.
What to do? This time it wasn't Spear Palace One Flash.
“Grk!?”
A sudden groan escaped as Super Cloud Spear's stance crumbled.
As if crushed by some immense weight, the strength drained from his swinging spear, and one knee buckled.
“W-What is this...!?”
His face full of shock at the sudden pressure, Super Cloud Spear soon realized it was Ja-seong's doing and glared at him.
“What sorcery have you wrought...!”
Oh, there it was. Sorcery.
The line dismissing the protagonist's amazing martial art as sorcery—it appeared in nearly every wuxia novel.
Grr, to think I'd hear it firsthand.
He wanted to savor that line for a full hour, wallowing in move, but the spar was still ongoing.
He'd indulge in move after it ended.
Gazing down at Super Cloud Spear still on one knee, he readjusted his grip on his sword.
“Grrrr...!”
Sensing crisis at his posture ready to swing any moment, Super Cloud Spear groaned and struggled to move.
Surprisingly, he straightened the knee and rose to his feet again.
“...Impressive. To think you could move under this pressure.”
Right now, Ja-seong was using the aura from his true stance to crush Super Cloud Spear's entire body.
As you might have guessed from ‘pressure,’ this was a technique from the still-incomplete Emperor Sword Form.
While devising a new initial stance for Spear Palace Free Sword, he'd suddenly thought to adapt this pressure technique against a single opponent.
Originally radiating outward to crush multiple foes, now concentrated on one.
With the intensified pressure rendering the enemy immobile, deliver a one-strike-kill heavy slash.
This was the fifth initial stance of Spear Palace Free Sword: Heaven-Splitting Thunderbolt.
Deciding to end the spar with his strongest available stance, he stared straight at Super Cloud Spear struggling against the aura's pressure.
Looking back at him, the man asked.
“You... what the hell are you? Human? Or a ghost?”
His voice trembled.
The words seemed laced with fear itself, so Ja-seong answered plainly.
“A warrior. Like you.”
“...Don't make me laugh. Your movements aren't something a human could...”
“That's why you've stagnated, setting limits like that. You, and this world.”
“What...?”
“The jianghu of the future will be different. I'll make it so.”
“What do you...?”
Confused, Super Cloud Spear buckled to his knee again.
The spear slipped powerlessly from his hand.
Seeing his trembling hands, Ja-seong noticed Super Cloud Spear's uniform soaked in blood.
Excessive bleeding.
The cuts must have been deeper than thought.
Better not drag this out.
“Grrrrr...!”
Raising his sword overhead for the finishing blow, Super Cloud Spear looked up at him.
Strength drained from his body, weapon dropped, yet his eyes weren't dead.
Those eyes demanded an answer from him.
“W-What do you mean? The jianghu changing...!”
Curious about that, even on the brink of death?
Pausing briefly, he gave a curt reply.
“It means I can't accept the jianghu as it is now.”
“...!”
Gazing down at Super Cloud Spear's wide eyes, he brought the overhead sword down.
-Whoosh
A heavy whoosh of air, and a streak of lightning struck Super Cloud Spear's shoulder,
-Kaboom!
Intense explosion, and his form slammed into the arena floor.